Pages

Saturday, August 16

Remembering Orville Moody: A Caddie’s Story (Conclusion)

Photo: Orville and Kim, his caddie and friend.

KIM GREEN WAS A CLOSE FAMILY FRIEND of Orville Moody, who died last week in Texas. Kim also caddied for “Sarge,” a U.S. Open and U.S. Senior Open champion, in the early 1990s. She graciously shared many of her memories and stories of life on tour with Orville. Following is the conclusion.

I remember one time in Napa we had played well enough to be on TV. So we went back to Orville’s condo and watched the coverage. We saw ourselves on the 18th hole and the commentators were making these statements about us. I remember looking at him and he looked at me and we just laughed because they were just making stuff up!I'll never forget that when I started to caddie I was in L.A. and going out to the parking lot at the course to get something for Orville. I passed this really nice man alone by his car. He looked up at me, smiled, and said hello. I casually said hello while thinking that I should know who that man is. It took me about five minutes to realize that Arnold Palmer had just said hello to me and I didn't even recognize him!

I also really loved Lee Trevino. He and Orville were two peas in a pod, and when they got together, it was a party. Lee and his caddie, Herman, were like an old married couple. One time in Florida we were walking down a fairway and Lee asked me if I had ever seen an alligator. I said no. So he took a golf club and went over to one of the ponds on the course. He started whacking the top of the water with his club and making strange sounds. I grabbed him and told him to knock it off and we laughed all the way to their second shots!He also told me this hilarious story about his Rolls Royce that he brought home and forgot to put in park. The poor car rolled down his driveway and into a lake on his property. The way he told it just made me cry with laughter. Dave Stockton is another guy that is first class. I think he felt sorry for me so he let me caddie for him a few times. I thought he'd let me have his bag permanently but he chose someone else. I was really disappointed but I understood. In the meantime I had quite a few tournaments with him and I just adored him. World-class golfer and human being. His whole family is wonderful.Now I'm a wife, a mom to three boys that I home school, and have given up golf. I thought I would be better after having been around such greatness. I expected to learn golf through osmosis. It was hard to play after what I witnessed. So I gave up the game. Someday when I have time, I hope to take it up again. I'll do it in honor of Orville.−The Armchair Golfer

TOURS & ORGANIZATIONS

The ARMCHAIR GOLF BLOG respects the rights of all copyright owners. Unless otherwise noted, images herein are the property of their respective copyright owners and are provided as a supplement to golf news and commentary. If you own rights to any images on this site and do not wish them to appear here, please contact us and we will promptly remove them.